(02-01-2012 04:18 PM)yosemitesam Wrote: KC, you make me nervous. Your conviction to your belief is cult-like. It's the kind where if you hear from your god, you will do whatever he says, regardless of how immoral it would be. You've already told us of your conversion, which happened not by your consent, but, and I quote, "became cemented by no choice of my own". And since you don't know his plan, anything goes. I hope I don't hear about you on CNN...

Either that, or you're really an atheist, and you're here to help other atheists on the forum to strengthen their debate techniques by pretending to be the most calm, well meaning, un-wavering Christian with the wackiest personal belief system ever, who will never back down, continuing to bend and massage your posts to fit the questions, just to see how far we'll all go. Because some of the stuff you say you believe is just, well, silly:

(24-12-2011 12:14 AM)kingschosen Wrote: Well... is His morality so bad?

I really wish it was the latter. I could have a good laugh, say "thank's for playing" and breathe a sigh of relief then.
Not trying to be an a-hole, but I really am creeped out by your posts. Just sayin'...

That might be going a tad far, but you're on the right track.

Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.

(16-12-2011 11:28 PM)kingschosen Wrote: I'm going to try my best to answer these. There are a lot, and it will probably take several days... so bear with me.

3. What gender is your god? The Bible speaks of a male.

God is referred to in the male gender because of the language of the time. It’s something that people would understand and relate to. God has no gender, but he is referred to as a male because of the social culture of the time.

While i applaud KC's attempts, the answers as a whole are odd. I was a thumper for years and some of his explanations i have never heard before. Now, truth be told your answers are a bit more New Agy than most traditional answers. Would not even say liberal, but more (in a nice way) 'simply made up'.

You answer on #3 vexes me. If god had inspired his minions to write a book to last the ages...he would have seen the future problems of this small snafu. In essence this ONE little gender problem has created a gigantic problem for women since the books inception. If he's got the POWER to harden Pharaoh's heart, then certainly he could have pushed a scribes pen in a way to be fair. But the book demonstrates over and over that fairness (a good moral trait to have) is not part of gods plan. Unless of course, it was part of gods plan all along!

73. What is the use of “Thou shalt not kill” if Christians depart en masse for war zones?

Referring to the 10 Commandments, it is actually translated as “shall not murder”. To murder someone is vastly different than killing someone. You can kill someone in a number of ways: accident, self defense, during times of war (even if the war isn’t justified, the soldier is honoring the law of his land).

74. In many communities “Keep the Sabbath” is proclaimed every Sunday. Isn’t it a bit presumptuous not to say a word to indicate the intended audience?

I honestly don’t understand this question.

75. Why can you get good results with a faith healer when suffering from asthma, eczema and MS (where psychological influences can affect the condition) but is it pointless to go there with an amputated limb?

Because 99% of that crap is fake and makes of mockery of the true power of Christ.

76. It becomes ever more clear that religious feelings have a physiological basis and that it is easy to arouse “supernatural experiences”. Why search outside people’s heads when these phenomena can be explained this way?

Because that’s lazy science. Where is it become more clear? Who is claiming this? This seems like a very generalized statement with little or no evidence. Intelligent, well grounded men and women have claimed religion for millennia. I think that this is evidence enough that if you want to try and disprove something you can’t stop at, “Welp, it’s something in your head.”

77. Why does religion claim a moral high ground? This while faith has thwarted people and restricted their freedoms for centuries. Ever since the Enlightenment the position for many groups has improved significantly.

Morality is a primitive trait passed to us through evolution and is affected by empathy and social stimuli. Through evolution, other primitive traits such as selfishness also gained admittance into our DNA. The Bible teaches suppression of our negative traits and to nourish our positive traits. This is also basic humanity. Christians who believe that religion produces morals are deluded.

In Dutch,
74. In veel gemeenten wordt elke zondag geroepen “gedenk de Sabbath”. Is het niet een aanfluiting om hier zonder morren geen gehoor aan te geven?
Google translate makes this,
74. In many communities, every Sunday called "remember the Sabbath." Is not it a travesty to not listen to this without a murmur to it?

Now better understanding?

Ps, if you makes there a better understandable question, I set it in the file on FreeThinker.

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although there are many electrons severely hindered.
All the bits are reused.

(09-01-2012 02:14 PM)kingschosen Wrote: 75. Why can you get good results with a faith healer when suffering from asthma, eczema and MS (where psychological influences can affect the condition) but is it pointless to go there with an amputated limb?

Because 99% of that crap is fake and makes of mockery of the true power of Christ.

Much closer to 100%, methinks.

Quote:76. It becomes ever more clear that religious feelings have a physiological basis and that it is easy to arouse “supernatural experiences”. Why search outside people’s heads when these phenomena can be explained this way?

Because that’s lazy science. Where is it become more clear? Who is claiming this? This seems like a very generalized statement with little or no evidence. Intelligent, well grounded men and women have claimed religion for millennia. I think that this is evidence enough that if you want to try and disprove something you can’t stop at, “Welp, it’s something in your head.”

At least it is science. However, the fact that people have claimed religious experiences or feelings for thousands of years is only proof of people having religious experiences for thousands of years - it says nothing of the cause or origin of them. There is excellent evidence, including fMRI studies, that shows it really is something in your head.

Quote:77. Why does religion claim a moral high ground? This while faith has thwarted people and restricted their freedoms for centuries. Ever since the Enlightenment the position for many groups has improved significantly.

Morality is a primitive trait passed to us through evolution and is affected by empathy and social stimuli. Through evolution, other primitive traits such as selfishness also gained admittance into our DNA. The Bible teaches suppression of our negative traits and to nourish our positive traits. This is also basic humanity. Christians who believe that religion produces morals are deluded.

Those would be our positive traits of stoning people to death?

Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.

(09-01-2012 02:22 PM)Jim Wrote: In Dutch,
74. In veel gemeenten wordt elke zondag geroepen “gedenk de Sabbath”. Is het niet een aanfluiting om hier zonder morren geen gehoor aan te geven?
Google translate makes this,
74. In many communities, every Sunday called "remember the Sabbath." Is not it a travesty to not listen to this without a murmur to it?

Now better understanding?

lol no. That's actually worse

I think this may be a cultural thing that I don't understand... maybe?

(09-01-2012 02:23 PM)Chas Wrote: Those would be our positive traits of stoning people to death?

Now, now. I've already talked about that. The Levitical Code was for a reason.

Offcourse, but if you had 4 years Dutch on highschool you can even talk rudimentary on Dutch fora with the help from google translate.
Thats the way I do, spellchecker and translate for the difficult words.

Note: To send this message, no trees cut down,
although there are many electrons severely hindered.
All the bits are reused.